“I mean, it’s the same base bill that’s been drafted and distributed for weeks. What’s printing is working on another version of that,” Silver said in voice that was lower than usual, swirling a cup of black coffee.

I still haven’t gotten a summary of exactly what’s in this deficit reduction bill. No one has on. The members have no idea what’s in it, several told me as they emerged from a closed-door conference ahead of Silver. The meeting started 90 minutes behind schedule.

As they waited, I saw several members in the chamber chatting, crocheting, watching hockey games on laptops, reading Newsweek and complaining about still being in Albany.

“It’s clearly a fiscal emergency for the State of New York. As soon as we can get something done, we intend,” he said, unconcerned by the fact that the less-than-reliable State Senate left the building three hours ago. “No, we think we’re doing what’s right. We’ve done it before and the Senate has eventually done it.”

Senators are scheduled to conference at 9 a.m., and begin session at 10 a.m. The expectation is things will run late. It’s unclear whether they will actually take up the same-sex marriage bill; State Senator Liz Krueger, a Manhattan Democrat, said it was “still under discussion.”

“John Sampson decided we’d do this in the morning rather than trying to do some strange, middle-of-the-night scene,” she said.